Does your profession or field require you to keep your hair a certain length, but as an African American, you’re tired of the old, boring, and plain hairstyles? If yes, this list of professional hairstyles for black men will surely serve you well.
You don’t have to stick to a plain old preppy hairstyle to look professional anymore. Today, you have more options than ever to make your hairstyle unique, such as lines, sharp cuts, hard parts, fades, tapers, you name it.
Trendy Professional Hairstyles for Black Men in the Workplace
Let’s see some exciting yet professional hairstyles that are suited for black men.
1. Fade Buzz Cut with Geometric Lines
This buzz cut with lines will look perfect on professional African-American men with their own small businesses, or jobs that require them to look neat and trendy all the time.
The first geometric line of fade starts at the hard part. The second line of fade looks like the letter ‘z’ in the middle of one side and the lower part of both side is skin faded.
2. Tapered Afro Hair with Curly Beard
It’s a neat afro hairstyle with low-tapered sides. The tapered sides give length to the face, which you can then cover with a curly beard. The beard is kept short to maintain a professional look.
3. Flat Top Afro Hair with Glasses
It’s one of the trendiest professional hairstyles for black men who work in the IT sector. It combines the flat top afro with the trendy fade effect.
The mid-fade disconnects the hairstyle from the beard. The chin strap beard isn’t too prominent because it consists of short patchy curly facial hair. Combine a thick retro print spectacle with the haircut to make yourself look like a tech guy.
4. Voluminous Big Afro Hair with Curly Full Beard
If you take pride in your curly afro hair, this is the style to go for because it lets your voluminous long hair spread out in all directions. The full beard looks a bit short because of the curly nature of the facial hair.
Be careful when choosing this style because this haircut isn’t suitable for professionals who work in the sales or marketing sector of a company.
5. Wavy Crew Cut with Short Disconnected Beard
The wavy low-fade crew cut is an impressive professional hairstyle that suits black men in executive and C-suite positions.
The hair is faded on the sides and completely flattened to create permanent waves. The beard is short, neatly trimmed, and disconnected from the hairstyle.
6. Pulled Back Cornrow Hair + Short Boxed Beard
Cornrow looks great on black men and it’s one of the hottest black men’s hairstyles in 2024. A full beard can hide your face, but you can make up for that with pulled-back braided hair that lets your forehead and face become clearly visible.
The short-boxed beard is a frequent addition to the attire of modern men and it surely looks great with this hairstyle
7. Frosted Dreads in a Man Bun with Goatee Beard
The thing about this style is that it is as business-y as it is showy. So, you can aim for these frosted dreads in a man bun whether you own a business or are a celebrity.
With so much hair on top, you want to keep it light on the face, with this petit goatee and thin mustache.
8. Mid-tapered Brushed Back Hair with Thin Mustache
You’d want this hairstyle if you’re a young black man. In fact, it suits teenagers because the beard growth is not there.
However, you can notice a thin mustache, which is the first hair growth for this young man. The hair is tapered on the sides and the top is brushed back.
9. Afro Highlights with Light Stubble Beard and Mustache
This take on the afro is quite popular among those who like to go for long hair. The highlights make your hair pop and become noticeable.
To keep your business and professional look consistent, go with a light stubble beard. The light stubble mustache is thin and neatly trimmed.
10. Mid-fade Squared Buzz Cut with Curly Full Beard
You can’t deny the suitability of this professional hairstyle for black men with 9-to-5 jobs. The haircut is mid-faded on the sides and the front is squared.
The beard has rounded cheek lines and the beard completely disappears near the temples. If you notice, the beard looks very neat despite being curly because of the cleanly cut outer edges.
11. Afro Spikes with Goatee and Disconnected Mustache
This professional look is for men who don’t want to take their looks too seriously. It has afro spikes that aren’t tapered or faded.
The goatee is thin and so is the mustache. Upon closer look, you can see some patchy beards too.
12. Frosted Undercut with Long Hair and Short Mustache
Choose this professional hairstyle if you are a black man in a customer-facing job. The undercut allows you to have completely shaved sides and long hair in the middle, which is tied and has a slightly frosted patch. The beard is your regular full beard with nothing fancy going on.
13. Short Dreadlocks with Beard Fade
If you keep your dreads just short enough, they look very suitable for a professional environment. This hairstyle should work in any profession, especially when you introduce a short beard that fades near your temples.
The pencil-thin mustache is another sign of a man who pays attention to his maintenance.
14. Blonde Afro Buzz Cut with Beard
You can say that this look is more suited to young men than it is to older men because of the blonde (dyed) afro buzz, which is a very bold move.
Contrasting the blonde hair is a typical chinstrap beard that you will achieve with light stubble. The pyramidal mustache is disconnected but definitely adds to the look.
15. Pompadour with Half-Frame Glasses
This high-fade high-top haircut is squared, which means your forehead will not only show but seem a little bigger than usual.
With a completely shaved face, it only makes sense that you introduce a pair of glasses to create a point of interest. In this case, it’s a semi-rimmed round glass.
16. Shiny Bald Head with Grey Medium Beard
It’s the businessman look and the shiny head doesn’t always come naturally. You have to ask your barber to do some special treatment to get a shiny head like this.
But a beautifully trimmed and neatly clipped medium-length beard won’t let all the limelight shine on your head. The gray hair in this professional hairstyle for black men makes it a must for business owners and tycoons.
17. Bleached Long Dreads with Patchy Short Beard
Long dreads aren’t easy to tame unless you tie them. However, if you don’t want to tie them, it’s best you go for this look with randomly bleached dread locks.
With such long hair, you might not want to go for a long beard because it will hide your face completely. So, this short and patchy beard is just fine.
18. Hard Part Skin-fade Hair with Chin Patch
Bring attention to your short hair with a hard part that doesn’t have to be a straight line. The skin-fade on the side is a bit “sudden” and that’s what makes it different from the rampant skin-fade hairstyles. Lastly, it’s a very small and thin chin patch or goatee for beard.
19. Butch Cut with Widow’s Peak Hairline and 5 o’clock Shadow
If you’re a professional, executive, CEO, COO, or business owner and your hairline has entered the widow’s peak territory, a butch cut would be a perfect pick. You can make this look professional with a 5 o’clock shadow beard.
20. Typical Afro Haircut with Rounded Clubmaster Glasses
Among all professional hairstyles for black men, this one’s the easiest to attain. You just grow out your afro hair and keep the length equal on all sides.
Since the face is clean-shaven, a point of interest could be your club master glasses with rounded or rounded square glasses.
21. Braided Top Knot with Egyptian Goatee and Round Glasses
You can instantly tell this style is for celebrities, fashion icons, and boutique owners. The braided hair is tied in a top knot where’s an Egyptian goatee and thin mustache adorns the lower part of the face. The round glasses lift the fashion meter several notches with more support from the nose ring.
22. Plain Short Afro with Salt and Pepper Chin Curtain
You can agree that this professional hairstyle is for older black men. There is no tapering or fading effect in the haircut. It’s a plain and simple short afro.
The chin curtain is the true winner in this setup, especially with salt and pepper peeking through. The hair on the head also has some greying going on.
23. Bleached Dreadlock Fringes with Short Stubble Beard
The long dreadlocks look like they have been combed to the side, almost what you would expect with a side-swept hairstyle.
A couple of dreads have been bleached for standing out. Since the hairstyle is quite fancy, the gentleman has balanced that out with a simple short beard.
There’s a hairstyle for you no matter which hair type you have e.g. straight, wavy, coily, curly, etc. In fact, our list of 23 professional hairstyles for black men shows that you can work with dyes and colors when clipping and trimming is just not enough.